A Breath Between Us
by Lindira
Summary: The 4 years have ended, and Tsukasa is finally returning to Japan. But where is Tsukushi? Tsukasa and F3 work to find her, while Tsukushi struggles to survive.
1. Chapter 1

_The 4 years have ended, and Tsukasa is finally returning to Japan. But where is Tsukushi? Tsukasa and F3 work to find her, while Tsukushi struggles to survive._

_Hana Yori Dango_ and its characters do not belong to me, and I don't pretend they do. But I love them and only borrow them for a while so I can write angsty fanfiction...

* * *

"Makino, do you know what next week is?" Tsukasa asked tentatively. If she didn't know what happened next week, he would kill her. He'd only been waiting for it for four years.

Even from across the globe, he knew Tsukushi was smiling. "Stupid," her voice chided gently. "Of course I do." She paused. "Summer break starts, right?"

"Moron!" he yelled. "What kind of girlfriend are you? Don't you even know –"

Her laughter was like rain, drenching the fire of his temper. "I'm kidding! Of course I know you're coming back next week! Just how stupid do you think I am?"

He smiled, despite himself. "Stupid enough."

"What time are you flying in? Maybe… maybe I could meet you at the airport," she said shyly.

"I'll be in at 6:30… I can't wait to see you, Makino." That, more than anything, was true. For four years, he had practically been counting the minutes until he saw her again.

"You sure you won't miss New York and all its skinny, exotic American women?" she asked with a forced laugh.

Four years ago, her response might have confused him or made him angry. But after all their hours-long weekly phone calls, after nothing but conversation to keep their relationship afloat, he had learned (a bit slowly, perhaps) a lot about how Tsukushi worked and how difficult it was for her to say what she actually felt.

"There's only ever been you, stupid," he told her firmly. Tsukasa knew she was just feeling insecure, but the fact that she could still be even remotely unsure of his devotion to her after all this time was annoying. "Though, _why_ I can't think of anyone but you is still a mystery to me."

"It's a mystery to me too, sometimes," she said softly. "I… um… I've missed you."

His heart beat faster. "I've missed you too."

Tsukasa was so absorbed in her voice that he didn't notice that one of his mother's goons was standing behind him. The man cleared his throat.

"Hold on, Makino," he said before turning to the man in the suit. "What the hell do you want? Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Your mother requests that you end your phone call now. She needs to see you," the man said in a dull voice.

"Well, I don't want to see her. I'm a grown man – my phone calls are my business, and I will end it when I say I'm done."

"Sir, you've been on the phone for over 3 hours. And it's an international call. Your mother worries about the bill."

Tsukasa laughed in earnest. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. My mother? Worrying about a bill? Are you new, or just brain damaged?"

"Sir, you must see your mother immediately."

"And I told you no already. So leave! Can't you see I'm talking with my girlfriend?"

Tsukushi spoke up, hearing all of this. "You know, it's okay if you have to go. I have homework I should be doing anyway."

"You wanna hang up with me to do homework?" he asked incredulously.

"No, it's just… I don't want to cause you trouble. You're coming back next week, and I don't want your mother to make things difficult for your return. It's okay, really. I'll see you when you get back, okay?"

"Hey! Don't you dare hang up! I'll kill you if you do!"

"I love you, Doumyouji."

"Wait!"

He heard a click and looked at the screen of his cell phone. The call had ended.

"Damn it!"

The man in the suit cleared his throat again. "Will you be seeing your mother now?"

Tsukasa glared at him before walking past him to go to the living area downstairs. His mother, Doumyouji Kaede, was sitting on a couch waiting for him, sipping tea calmly.

"Ah, there you are," she said in her cold voice. "I was wondering how long you were going to keep me waiting."

"Forever, if it were up to me," he retorted angrily. "What the hell do you want?"

She took another sip of her tea before answering. "Tsukasa, I only wish to warn you not to get mixed up with that Makino girl upon your return to Japan next week."

He clenched his fists. "We had an agreement. I served my four years in New York. I studied business and I've already helped our company land some major mergers."

Kaede smiled proudly, but it sickened Tsukasa to see it. "Yes, Wall Street was hailing you as a business prodigy. Less than two years working with the Doumyouji Group, still attending college, and you've already made millions of dollars for the company."

"Aren't those millions enough to buy my freedom? Can't you leave me alone now?"

Kaede stood up and crossed her arms. "I will make one thing very clear to you, Tsukasa. I will never accept that worthless pauper into my family. Is that clear? Never. I have spent too much time and energy on this matter already. If the Doumyouji family is to be truly strong, there must not be any weak links. This Makino girl is one such weak link. And I will not allow her to be added to our family chain."

Tsukasa's jaw was set, determined. "Mother, I will make one thing clear to you too. I will never let you come between me and Makino. Is that clear? Never! You're so afraid of this family falling apart, but what you never seem to realize is that you're the only one who's breaking it to pieces!"

Kaede slapped him. "How dare you speak to me that way!"

His face stung sharply, but his expression never changed. "Are we done here? I have some packing to do."

Without waiting for an answer, he turned and walked back to his room, slamming the door. He took a deep breath and sighed. He had hoped that, now that his 4-year sentence in New York was over, he and Makino could live their lives without interruption. He had hoped that they could start having a normal relationship… or as normal a relationship as a billionaire's son and a lower middle class girl could have. Now, knowing the war between them and his mother wasn't over, Tsukasa felt a sense of dread overwhelm him.

He sat down at his desk, opening a large drawer and pulling out one of the hundreds of letters contained inside. He and Tsukushi had agreed to write each other letters, since they couldn't talk on the phone much more than once a week due to their busy schedules and the massive time difference. He held the latest one, the letter from Tsukushi that he had received only a week and a half ago. He opened the violet envelope gently, almost reverently. The paper was white with a line of purple flowers at the top of each page, the same paper as every letter in his drawer. He had given her the stationery as a gift when he left. The paper was scented with lavender; the smell reminded him of the shampoo she used to use. He pressed the letter to his face, taking in the warm evergreen scent, his mind racing with images of her. He touched his fingers to the scrawling kanji on the page. When he had received Tsukushi's first letter, he was surprised at how open she was. The thoughts that took endless coaxing and prodding and pleading for her to tell him were so freely written in each letter. Each word made his heart soar even while they made it ache.

_I miss you so much_, she wrote in this latest letter. _The cherry blossoms aren't blooming anymore. You missed them again this year. Kazuya, Yuki, and I went to view them when they first came out, and I kept thinking of you and how much I wished you were there. But you'll be back soon, and we can view them together next year. We could have a picnic, just the two of us._

_I love you, Doumyouji. I know I say it in every letter, but I mean it even more each time. With every passing day, I love you and miss you more and more. I didn't think it was possible to love someone so much. There's an expression that says, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." Maybe that's true here. But I think, once you return, my heart will still grow ever fonder of you. It seems impossible to love you more than I do now, but I know I will. After all, we'll be together again, and how can I not love you more, being with you?_

Tsukasa let out a sigh, kissing the letter lightly before putting it away. He wrapped a rubber band around it and several other letters. His hundreds of other letters were already bundled up. He walked to his already open suitcase and placed the bound letters inside. After a moment, he reached into one of the smaller pockets, pulled out a small, velvet box, and opened it. Inside was a 3-stone diamond engagement ring. The center stone was 1 carat; he had wanted to buy Tsukushi something much bigger, but he knew that she would shriek and demand something smaller. He made up for it with quality – all three diamonds were the purest, clearest, most perfect stones he could find. The ring glittered even in the dimmest room. He touched the stones with his fingertips gently, thinking now that the smaller stones would suit Tsukushi's delicate hand. His stomach fluttered nervously, both at the thought of proposing to her and at the next thought that came.

His mother would be furious. How would she make Tsukushi suffer before this was all over?

* * *

The last of the spring rains pattered outside Tsukushi's window. She sat on her bed with her knees pulled up to her chest, staring at the raindrops splattering against the glass. Tsukasa would be home in three days. Her heart beat faster thinking about it. It really was amazing how completely she missed him. And loved him. Tsukushi loved Tsukasa. She had frequently tried to deny it in the past, but it was so obvious – now, even to herself. She did not tell him often. When they spoke on the phone, she could tell that he was overjoyed every time she said it. She wasn't sure why she always had a hard time telling him what she felt. She had made a resolution to try to tell him more often. 

She looked at her desk, the box of lavender stationery lying open. Beside it, a letter to Tsukasa laid half finished. She knew it was stupid, writing him a letter when she was going to see him in 3 days, but it didn't seem real to her. Just the concept of seeing Tsukasa felt surreal, like a dream world she had seen in her sleep. Writing letters to him felt so natural now, after years of hundreds of letters. Tsukasa didn't know, but she even had to buy a new box of lavender stationery; she had run out of paper in the old box a year and a half ago. (Luckily she had found some on sale. It was expensive for paper…) She poured her confused thoughts and emotions into the pages, almost forgetting that Tsukasa was going to read them. To her they were like a diary or journal she kept. She had been surprised to find out how open and personal she was in her letters. The things she found so difficult to say aloud were written freely and eagerly on each page. She hoped to find a balance one day. She knew that, despite her letters, Tsukasa would want to hear her. He would need her to say that she loved him, needed him, thought constantly about him. It was important that he know.

After a moment of thought, she sat at the desk again, writing with new inspiration. She was close to the bottom of the page, when a noise caught her attention. She froze and listened intently. Her parents were back at the fishing village again, and they had brought Susumu with them for summer break. She had assured them that she was okay living by herself, and for the most part, she was. But it was times like these…

A pair of hands grabbed her from behind, pulling her backwards in her chair, drawing her pen across the lavender-scented paper in erratic squiggles. She counted three tall men in suits standing around her in her bedroom. The strong hands easily bound her own behind her back, despite her screams and frantic struggling. Fear bit her spine sharply. "What the hell are you doing?" she yelled. "Let go of me!"

Through her screams, Tsukushi did not hear the empty, muffled tapping of high heels on tatami mats. "What is that racket?" a cold, familiar voice said. Doumyouji Kaede strode into the room as if she owned the place. For all Tsukushi knew, maybe she _did_ own it. "Really, Makino-san, a real lady would not scream indoors in this manner."

"A real lady wouldn't attack someone in their own home, either," Tsukushi retorted, everything making sense to her now that Kaede was here.

"Perhaps," Kaede conceded and closed the distance between her and the young woman. "I trust you know why I'm here."

"As if that wasn't blatantly obvious. Doumyouji's returning, and you want me out of the way." Tsukushi felt braver than she probably should be feeling, but having a foe to face, having the person she hated more than anything in her own room, her rage got the better of her.

"Quite astute." Tsukasa's mother pulled Tsukushi's head up, and they stared fiercely into each other's eyes. "You will not see my son again. Ever. You will not speak to him. Ever."

Tsukushi pulled her head away roughly. Kaede's touch felt poisoned. It made her skin prickle.

"In the past," Kaede continued, "I was willing to take you as a woman of your word. I gave you many opportunities, in which you swore to me you'd leave my son alone. Yet, here you are, calling him every week, pining after him. No doubt you have plans to see each other once he lands in Tokyo. You are probably even going to meet him at the airport."

Tsukushi shivered. Kaede's eyes were so cold. Fear overcame anger as she wondered what this madwoman was going to do to her.

"I will trust your word no longer, Makino-san. You have given me no choice but to take desperate measures. If you will not leave Tsukasa's life willingly, I will simply take you out of it by force."

"What are you going to do with me?" Tsukushi asked. What was Kaede willing to do to keep her away from Tsukasa? Just how far would she go?

The older woman's face sneered. "It's simple, really. I'll lock you away, where Tsukasa cannot find you. I admit, he cares for you. He will probably look for you. But I am confident that he will forget about you soon after you are gone. He suffers from an infatuation with you, Makino-san, but nothing more. He will recover in time."

Tsukushi stared at her in horror. "Just how long are you planning on locking me away?"

"As long as it takes for Tsukasa to forget you."

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

Tsukasa sat on the plane, his hand in the pocket of his jacket clutching the velvet ring box tightly. Part of him was scared he'd lose it and needed reassurance that it was still there. Not that he couldn't buy another one, but the ring had come to mean something to him. It was a symbol, now, one of hope for a bright future with Tsukushi. Its presence calmed him, and he stroked the velvet absently as he stared out the window at the swirling clouds and ocean below. He hated long flights.

He dozed between bathroom breaks, glasses of ginger ale, and thoughts of Tsukushi. He couldn't sleep, even though he knew that it would make the flight go much faster. Butterflies beat the sides of his stomach, and his heart raced in excitement. The long wait was finally over. Would she kiss him in the airport? In front of all those strangers and his friends? He blushed pleasantly at the thought and grinned. Even if she didn't, he knew he would kiss her. It had been too long since he had seen her to care what other people thought.

Several hours later, the plane landed in Tokyo. His heart beat wildly in his chest and throat. _What's taking so long?_ he thought to himself as the plane taxied around the airport. He considered complaining, but felt too tired and too nervous to do anything. Closing his eyes, he took deep breaths, touching the box in his jacket again, and imagining Tsukushi running up to him in the airport.

Twenty minutes later, the plane finally made it to the gate. Tsukasa all but trampled the people ahead of him as they exited the cabin. He ran ahead of everyone, shouldering his Italian leather carry-on. The moment he reached the doors, he scanned the crowd for a familiar face. Her familiar face. After a few moments, he spotted Rui. Soujirou and Akira stood beside him, waving enthusiastically. Tsukasa looked around them and scowled. Tsukushi wasn't there.

Still scowling, Tsukasa walked toward his friends. They were smiling widely, and each pulled him into a hug before any of them spoke.

"Bad flight?" Akira asked, though all of them were fully aware why Tsukasa's face looked so sour.

"Where is she?" Tsukasa snapped.

"Makino?" Soujirou replied. "She's not here yet."

"Obviously! But my flight is over 45 minutes late! How could she not be here yet?"

Akira shrugged, trying not to anger his friend further. "Traffic?"

Tsukasa had already whipped out his cell phone and pressed the speed dial for Tsukushi's number. "I'll kill her…" he muttered. The line rang and rang, but it brought him to her voice mail. "Makino," he began after the beep, "where the hell are you? I thought you were going to meet me at the airport! You'd better call me back right now or I'll kill you!" He paused. "And you'd better not have some excuse like you're working or doing homework…" He snapped the phone shut.

"Tsukasa, listen," Akira spoke up. "How about we go to a bar to celebrate your homecoming?"

Soujirou nodded. "Yeah. Forget about her tonight."

_How can I?_ Tsukasa thought.

"How about it, Rui?" Soujirou continued.

Rui seemed to be thinking, but it was always hard to tell what. "Sure." Tsukasa thought for a second that Rui seemed bothered.

"Did you talk to her? Did she say she was going to be late?" Tsukasa asked his taciturn friend, fighting back pangs of jealousy.

Rui shook his head. "Actually, I haven't talked to her in a few days… How strange."

A small voice of worry began whispering to Tsukasa in his head. _Maybe she's really sick. Or maybe your mother found out about the ring…_ He tried to shove it to the back of his mind, but the whispers grew in intensity. It was strange, though. Tsukushi had told him – quite openly, despite his jealousy – that she spoke to Rui almost every day.

"What about you guys? Have you talked to her?"

Akira and Soujirou both shook their heads.

"Call her friend… Yuuki. Call Yuuki," Tsukasa insisted, shaking Soujirou's collar. "You know her number, right?"

Soujirou's face reddened slightly but he nodded, wanting to get this off Tsukasa's mind so they could actually go do something. He flipped open his cell phone and began dialing. "Yuuki? …Yes, it's Nishikado. Hey, Tsukasa's back in Japan, and Makino said she would meet him here, but she never showed up." He paused as Yuuki spoke. "Huh… Really? …What? A man called? …Yeah, that's weird. …Okay. Yeah, you try her parents… Thanks, Yuuki. Bye." He hung up.

The small voice in Tsukasa's head wasn't so small anymore. "Yuuki hasn't spoken to her either." It wasn't a question so much as a certainty.

Soujirou shook his head. "And Makino was supposed to come in to work the past two days, but she never showed up. A man called yesterday to say she wouldn't be in for a while. He claimed he was her uncle. He said there was a family emergency. But Yuuki knows that Makino only has one uncle, in Okinawa, and her family doesn't speak to him much. She's going to try talking to her parents."

"Her parents went back to that fishing village, didn't they?"

Rui nodded. "Her little brother went to join them a few weeks ago. She's been living alone."

Fear joined worry at the back of Tsukasa's mind. Together, they bit at him until a slow shudder traveled up his spine, bringing with it images of Tsukushi in danger, in pain, and… worse. "Why didn't you people check on her? I thought you were her friends!"

He didn't give them time to answer. "Get my luggage!" he called over his shoulder at his friends as he turned and ran through crowds of people and towards the exit. After a moment, he became aware of someone running just behind him. He glanced over his shoulder. It was Rui.

Together they ran out of the airport and hailed a taxi. Tsukushi's apartment wasn't far, but there were always so many people out on the streets this time of night. Tsukasa stared out at the throngs of people, as if looking through them to find her. It might be nothing. It might be that she did have a family emergency. Maybe it was her uncle who called. But why wouldn't she tell any of her friends? Tsukasa couldn't help feeling a near certainty that something horrible had happened to Tsukushi.

They arrived at her building and raced up the stairs two at a time. When they reached her door, Tsukasa banged on it hard. "Makino! Open up! Are you home? Are you okay? Open up!"

The lights weren't on inside. Tsukasa looked around for an open window. Then he noticed Rui fiddling with the door. The door opened easily. "How'd you do that?"

"I have a key," Rui replied, opening his palm to show him.

Tsukasa scowled. "Why the hell do _you_ have a key?"

His friend shrugged. "In case she needed me. Her parents gave it to me."

Grumbling and still scowling, Tsukasa pushed his way into the apartment. "Makino! You in here?" he called as he turned on the lights. The main room of the apartment was cluttered, but otherwise intact.

"That's weird," Rui said.

"What? What's weird?"

"The table's crooked. And Makino usually wouldn't leave things scattered."

Tsukasa's stomach tightened. _It doesn't mean anything_, he told himself._Makino's fine. It doesn't mean anything._ The bedroom door was open. He walked inside and turned on the lights.

At first glance, nothing was wrong with the room. This room was relatively neat. He scanned the room carefully. _The bed's not made, but that's not strange, is it? The chair is completely across the room from the desk. But it's a very small room. What if she was stretching her legs?_ _The trinkets and books on her shelves… Well, the books have fallen over on their sides. But if she's been gone a few days, they could have fallen over by themselves. The trinkets are crooked too. Is that strange?_ He picked up one that had fallen over onto the bed. It was a small ceramic frog with a crown on its head. It was a present he had sent to her from New York. Worry nibbled at the back of his mind again.

Scanning the room again, he noticed a piece of paper that had fallen behind the desk. Getting down on his hands and knees, he picked up the piece of paper, and sat down on the floor looking at it. It was a half-finished letter on the lavender scented paper. He smelled the flowery scent, wishing desperately that Tsukushi were there, like she should have been. He touched his fingers to the words lovingly before reading them.

_Dear Doumyouji,_

_You'll probably think I'm silly, writing you a letter when you'll be home so soon. Even I think I'm being silly. But I've gotten so used to writing to you when I feel lonely or I'm missing you, and I've been missing you more and more the closer it gets to the day you come back. Isn't that strange? You'd think that I would miss you less. But I'm so excited to see you and so nervous at the same time. Will you still think I'm pretty? Will we be able to act naturally around each other? I'm so used to missing you, that I forget what it's like to have you here. We've spent more time apart than together, and it hurts, because I love you so very much._

_I really hope that once we're together again – that's it, we're together and we won't be apart ever again. I've discovered, these past four years together, that I want to be with you… forever. I love you, and I can't imagine my life without you in it. I know things will still be hard. We come from completely different worlds, and we're both so stubborn and hot-headed. But we're both really strong too. Whatever obstacles try to come between us, we can beat them, together. I really need you. As much as my mouth may deny it, however shy I am to say it, I love you and I need you in my life. I'm really looking forward to_

The sentence and the letter stopped there, but the last character she had written had a long tail that scribbled down the rest of the paper. It was like the pen had been dragged across the page haphazardly.

"Find something?" Rui asked, watching at him from the doorway.

Tsukasa shook his head and folded the paper lovingly. "I have a bad feeling about this," he said in a soft voice. "Even if she did have a family emergency, she knew I was coming home. She wouldn't have missed it. Or if she had to miss it, she would have called. She would have called someone, right, Rui?"

Rui nodded. "I have a bad feeling about this too…"

Tsukasa's phone rang, startling them out of the quiet. He dug it out of his pocket hurriedly. "Makino?" he asked hopefully into the phone.

"No, Tsukasa, it's Soujirou."

Tsukasa sighed. "What is it?"

"Yuuki called back," Soujirou said. "Her parents haven't heard from her since they called to check on her last weekend. And they haven't heard from Makino's uncle either. They're going to call him. But they're pretty sure there isn't any family emergency. We even called Shigeru, Sakurako, and Kazuya. None of them have seen or talked to Makino since three or four days ago."

Tsukasa's heart clenched in his chest. "Something must have happened to her," he said through gritted teeth.

"You don't think she ran away again? She does that sometimes."

"Where would she have gone? Why would she? I was coming home today!"

"I don't know, Tsukasa. It's just a thought." Soujirou sounded frustrated. "Hey, we're on our way over to meet you at Makino's place. We can talk more when we get there. It'll take us about five minutes, so stay put."

"Why would I go?" Tsukasa retorted, but Soujirou had already hung up.

"What do we do now?" Rui asked as Tsukasa snapped the phone shut.

Tsukasa sat on the bed and buried his face in his hands. "I don't know, Rui. I really don't know." He hesitated for a moment. "Soujirou said she might have run off again…"

"No, she couldn't have," Rui said at once.

"But what if she got scared? I know she loves me, but it's been a long time, and I admit I was a little scared to see her again…"

"No. Makino wouldn't have run away."

"How do you know?" Tsukasa asked, looking up at him.

"She was so excited to see you. She was nervous, but not scared. She was counting the hours until she saw you again. I doubt that anything could make her run away from you again. Especially since it's been such a long time."

Tsukasa smiled faintly, feeling momentarily relieved. But part of him had hoped that she _had_ run away. Then she would be safe, and being together was likely to be a car ride and an argument away. But if she hadn't run away… "Then what the hell happened?"

Soujirou and Akira walked in just then. "Hey guys," Akira greeted. "Soujirou and I just had a thought."

Soujirou nodded. "Yeah. We figure, if Makino isn't with her parents, there wasn't a family emergency, and she didn't run away, she must have been kidnapped."

Tsukasa rolled his eyes. "Well, of course. But who would kidnap Makino?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Akira said. "Who hates Makino more than anything? Who would do anything to keep you two apart? Who has the kind of power to do something like this?"

Tsukasa didn't want to say it, even though it was the most logical conclusion. "Mother…"

"You think Auntie would go to such lengths?" Rui spoke up.

"I wouldn't put anything past her," Soujirou said. "She nearly ruined the lives of all of Makino's family and friends. And that was just the beginning with her. Imagine how angry she must be, keeping Tsukasa and Makino apart for four whole years, and they're about to get together again?"

"Yeah," Akira agreed. "If the timing had been any different, I would have suggested we look into Tsukasa's enemies. That maybe one of them took her for ransom. But the timing was too perfect and there haven't been any demands. The last time anyone saw her was 3 days ago. The people who took her really wanted her out of the way before you got here, Tsukasa. Your mother's the one. I have no doubt about it."

With each word, Tsukasa's anger grew until it consumed him. He often said he was going to kill people, but he rarely meant it. For the first time in his life, he was actually considering it as a serious course of action. Maybe the world would be a better place without Doumyouji Kaede. In the past, Tsukasa had believed that his mother was a good person, just strict and unable to express emotion. Even as she tormented Tsukushi, he wanted to believe that she really did have his best interests in mind, even if she was terribly misguided. But if she did kidnap Tsukushi… If she did take her… If his own mother hurt his Tsukushi… Angry tears appeared in Tsukasa's eyes, but they burned away immediately.

"Tsukasa? Are you okay?" Akira asked cautiously.

His friends were edging away from him. They had often said, before he had met Tsukushi, that his face could become murderous if he was angry enough. Tsukasa could never remember being angrier than he was just then. He imagined he looked especially murderous.

"What should we do, then?" Rui stared out the window as he spoke, appearing nonchalant as usual. His eyes, however, were wide with fear. "We can't go to the police."

Akira looked at Rui, puzzled. "Why not?"

"Tsukasa's family practically owns the police, remember?" Soujirou said. "It'd be a waste of time."

"I'm going home," Tsukasa said in a strained voice. He stood, picking up his near-forgotten carry-on.

Soujirou and Akira looked at each other. "Home?" Akira said. "What are you going to do there?"

"I'll see if I can find out some information. Maybe we could figure out where she's being held. But there's not much else we can do right now. We don't know the whole situation. Hell, we don't know any of the situation. If we try to do something now, we'll be wasting time and energy. We have to be careful. Makino's depending on us." Tsukasa's voice broke as he spoke those last words. He cleared his throat twice before speaking again. "Rui, give me the key," he said, holding his hand out.

Rui looked Tsukasa in the eye for a moment before reaching into his pocket and depositing the apartment key in the outstretched hand. "You think Makino's alive?"

Tsukasa looked away from him, his eyes growing hot and his chest feeling tight. "She'd better be. For my mother's sake, as well as hers."


	3. Chapter 3

Tsukushi woke up, feeling groggy and disoriented. The dark room was cool, but not cold. Her head still stung sharply from when those men clubbed her over the head over three days ago. She had struggled willfully as the overgrown men carried her out of her apartment, desperately trying to scream for help through the gag over her mouth. Despite their strength, they found it difficult to hold her still. So they hit her over the head. Before she fell unconscious, she heard Kaede's cold voice: "I don't care what you do to her. Do whatever you wish. Just don't kill her."

Tsukushi shuddered and looked around the room. She wasn't sure what these men would do once they got bored enough, but she was hoping she'd escape before she found out. She had long since slipped out of the ropes around her wrists, though it took hours of wriggling her tiny wrists to get out. They were still red and raw.

The room was small, and sparsely furnished. She sat on a small cot in the corner, under one of the two barred windows. She knew she could open them, but she had no hope of slipping between the bars. Looking out, she appeared to be in a small farm house in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, even though she was on the second floor, the roof extended under her windows. If she could somehow get past the bars, she might be able to climb from the roof to the ground below.

Her stomach growled angrily at her. She looked down at it and frowned. "They don't seem to generous around here, Mr. Stomach. You'll just have to bear with it for a while." They had fed her exactly twice since she arrived, and all they gave her was a bowl of rice and a small fish. No chopsticks. Still, she was a little grateful that the men had remembered to feed her at all.

She opened the window and reached her hands out to touch the screws that held the bars to the wall. The screws seemed standard enough, if a little big. If she had something thin, flat, and strong, she might be able to unscrew the bars. But that was if they weren't rusted tight, if she could muster enough strength, if she could do it noiselessly so the men wouldn't hear. That was a lot of ifs. She sighed and closed the window.

She paced the small room back and forth, trying to think and ignore the gnawing ache in her stomach. _Doumyouji comes home today_, she thought bitterly._He'll be mad that I didn't go to meet him. I think I have a good excuse, though._ She chuckled without humor at the last thought.

"Hurry up and forget about me, Doumyouji," Tsukushi murmured as she paced. "I want to go home!" As much as that was true, however, she also wished that he would never forget her. She still wanted to believe that they were meant to be. Exasperated with herself, she threw her hands in the air and looked up at the ceiling.

And, on the ceiling, was a lighting fixture she hadn't noticed before. She just assumed that there wasn't a light, since the men had never turned one on. A small chain dangled from the fixture, just out of her reach. Curious and suddenly inspired, Tsukushi listened for the men to make sure they were nowhere near her door. Feeling she was in the clear, she dragged the cot to the middle of the room. She stood on tiptoe on top of it and reached for the fixture. Her fingers barely grasped the fattest part of the fixture's glass dome. She twisted it slowly, wincing as the old metal attaching it to the ceiling screeched and scraped. Holding her breath, she listened again for Kaede's minions. Still hearing nothing, she continued twisting the dome. Finally, after what seemed like eternal minutes, the dome fell gently into her hands.

She sat down on the cot, wondering if this dome could really do her any good. She looked back up at the ceiling. The light bulb was still up there. She wasn't sure if she could do anything with that either, but she couldn't pass up any chance to gather potential tools. Waiting for a moment to allow the feeling to return to her sleeping, prickling hands, she contemplated the dome. It was frosted glass with a metal rim. If she could somehow pry the metal from the dome, she might be able to use it to undo the screws on the bars over the window.

The feeling having returned to her hands, Tsukushi stood up on the cot again. She carefully twisted the bulb until it came free easily into her hands. She got down off the cot and gathered up her newly-acquired treasures.

She was suddenly aware of footsteps in the hallway outside the door. Her heart thumping a tattoo against her chest, she pushed the cot back to its original position in the corner and shoved the light bulb and glass dome underneath it. As an afterthought, she all but threw her threadbare blanket on top of them to hide their presence. She was just straightening up when the door began to open. She jumped to the window, hoping she looked like she was simply looking out and not doing anything suspicious.

"What have you been up to?" a gruff voice asked her. Two of the men who had taken her walked in, wearing mean looks on their plain faces.

"What do you mean?" Tsukushi said in a bitter but – she hoped – calm voice. "I've been doing nothing because you gave me nothing to do!"

"We heard some noises," the other said, as if he didn't hear her answer.

"Yeah? Well, it's dusty in here. I sneezed a few times. Am I not allowed to sneeze?" Her heart continued it's thump-thumping against her chest. In the back of her mind, she knew it wasn't a good idea to provoke them like this. But her head and stomach throbbed with hunger, and she was angry.

The first glared at her. "You giving us attitude?"

The second grabbed her arm. "No wonder the boss doesn't like you. We don't like you either."

"Despicable vermin."

"You're the despicable ones!" she spat as they held her arms and twisted them behind her.

"Worthless bitch."

"See if that boyfriend of yours ever comes for you."

Tsukushi pulled and writhed as best she could to escape them, but they held her too tightly. "Let go of me! Get your hands off me!"

"Ugly rat of a girl."

"We'll crush the attitude out of you."

They pushed her hard onto the wooden floor, fists pounding, hands grabbing, feet kicking. Tsukushi wasn't sure whether they were trying to rape her or beat her senseless. But she screamed. All she was aware of was the pain.

The dim room turned gray. As Tsukushi blacked out, a nearly inaudible whisper escaped her lips.

"Doumyouji…"

* * *

Tsukasa's eyes shot open. He lifted a hand to his face in the darkness, watching it shake violently in the wake of his dream. Sitting up a moment later, he ran the still shaking hand through his hair, surprised to find his normally tight curls straightened with sweat. He glanced at the clock. 2:06. He'd barely slept three hours. 

Putting on his robe, he walked to the window and sat at the chair there. It was so difficult to sleep. Lately, he was lucky to stay asleep for four hours straight. Some nights, he was lucky if he got two hours. And then there were the dreams…

Every night, he dreamt of her. He had nightmares, most of the time, of horrible things happening to Tsukushi. Or worse – finding her dead. But the most painful dreams were the happy ones. The ones where they were together, having a silly argument or laughing at a joke or on a date at the park. And then he would wake up, and this – this was the nightmare.

Tsukushi had been missing for almost a week now. Her parents had called the police, against F4's advice, and as expected, they did nothing to help. Oh, they said they started a missing person's case, and a search was being organized. But after her parents called two times or more every day for the past week, it became clear that the police just wasn't trying. They made excuses. There aren't enough clues. She probably ran away. She's an adult, and most likely doesn't want to be found.

Tsukasa's hands tightened into fists as he thought about this. Apparently the police weren't good for anything; it didn't matter if apologies were good enough or not. And he and Tsukushi's parents had wasted their time hoping they would help.

He leaned forward, pressing his forehead onto the cool glass of the window. "Makino, where are you?" he mumbled to himself. "How am I ever going to find you?" He laughed bitterly to himself. If only he could get his mother to tell him where she was keeping Tsukushi. It was the first time since he was a child that he wished his mother was there, and she was conveniently unreachable, despite the fact that she was actually in Japan for once. Whenever he called, she was "in a meeting." Whenever he showed up at their main office complex, the guards forcefully turned him away. Even with all his strength and martial arts training, he couldn't get past ten trained guards.

Suddenly feeling restless, Tsukasa got up and began getting dressed. He desperately needed to think, to find a course of action. Tsukasa was at his best when he could actually do something to attain his goals. And he couldn't think in this enormous fortress of solitude.

The night shift maids were surprised to see Tsukasa leave so late at night, but knew better than to question him. His eyes were dark from continuous sleepless nights, his lips drawn into an angry line. He walked out the door and down the street, aimless but purposeful at the same time, letting his feet drag him onward to some unknown destination. All he knew was that he would find inspiration at the end of it.

* * *

Tsukasa blinked and looked around, truly seeing his surroundings for the first time. It was a small apartment building. Tsukushi's apartment building. As he walked up the stairs, he fumbled in his pocket and pulled out the key he had taken from Rui. He unlocked the door and opened it slowly.

Strolling thoughtfully through the small apartment, he ran his finger along the remnants of Tsukushi's life – the life she was missing. The small cabinet that held her dishes. The tiny rice cooker and the towels left on the countertop. The TV facing the single table in the room. He stopped at the bookshelf. A framed picture sat on the top shelf. A little girl with pigtails, about six years old, hugged a toddler boy from behind and grinned at Tsukasa through the glass. He smiled sadly back at the girl in the picture. "Stupid little girl," he murmured. "You're very lost right now, you know that? Why are you smiling?"

He picked up the picture and stared at it for a while. _Where was this picture taken?_ he wondered. _What was her family doing there? Why does she like this picture more than other pictures of her and her brother?_ It bothered him that he didn't know. He felt he should know. He should know about the little things in her life – the things she thought too insignificant to mention but were an important part of her nonetheless. But he didn't know. He hadn't had that chance yet. _I might never know._

Tsukasa set the picture carefully back to its place on the bookshelf and walked into the bedroom. He stood, just barely inside, gazing at Tsukushi's belongings, feeling a deep melancholy settling in his chest.

He felt so useless. Tsukushi was missing, and he'd done nothing. He couldn't even think of anything to do. His mind was good for nothing but showing him image after image of his worst fears.

He picked up a pillow from her bed and hugged it to him. It still smelled deeply of her scent, like lavender and powder and something inexplicably Tsukushi. He closed his eyes and took long breaths of it, letting it fill him, concentrating so hard on that one scent that he could almost fool himself into believing she were there. _I'll find you,_ he swore silently. _Even if I have to look in every property my family owns…_

Tsukasa opened his eyes. _What if I did look in every property? But Tsukushi might not have that kind of time. It'd take forever._ He sat on the bed and breathed in the pillow again. _But I wouldn't have to look in every property. It's not like she'd be in one of the Maple Hotels. Or really any nice place. Prisoners are kept in dungeons, dumps… dirty, rundown places… My family can't possibly own too many of those._

He had no sense of relief, but the helpless anxiety ebbed away just a little. He had a place to start. He could do something. Feeling suddenly exhausted, he lay down in Tsukushi's bed, surrounded by her scent, and pulled the blankets around him. As he fell asleep, he felt closer to her than he had in four years, yet – at the same time – felt very aware of how far away she really was.


	4. Chapter 4

Tsukushi let out a slight grunt and let her trembling arms fall limply at her sides. After a moment, she gritted her teeth, took the folded metal between her sore fingers, and tried again, reaching her arm down through the bars to the stubborn bolt that held them fast against the wall. She had spent nearly two weeks trying each of them, and the most she had to show for it were bloodied fingertips. She finally decided to work on just one, so she picked what she thought was the loosest one and worked at it constantly.

_Stupid, stubborn Doumyouji, _she thought with both bitterness and affection. _You're probably out there somewhere, looking for me, aren't you? It must be very hard for you. How can your mother expect you to forget me? Unless you had amnesia like that one time… but you snapped out of it eventually. I know I could never forget you. I would never give up on you._

Tsukushi was so lost in thought that, at first, she hadn't realized that the bolt was now lying in the palm of her hand. She pulled her arm back into the room and stared at the bolt in disbelief. "No way…" she breathed. "I did it!"

She pushed at the set of bars tentatively, listening for the guards as she did so. The space between the bars and the wall was slim, but she thought she might be able to slip through. After a brief moment of hesitation, she climbed over the windowsill. Her legs slipped past the bars easily. Steadying her grip on the windowsill, she lowered herself through the bars. Her butt and breasts took a little rough coaxing to get past, but she made it almost all the way through. Her toes dangled two feet above the tiles of the old pagoda style roof. _This is going to make a lot of noise when I land…_ she thought. Tsukushi took another deep breath, moved her head to the side so she wouldn't hit it on the bars, and let go.

The tiles rattled and thudded as her bare feet landed on the roof. Tsukushi spared barely a thought for them before she ran to the edge of the roof and lowered herself quickly from the overhang, all but jumping the several feet to the soft ground below. In the back of her mind, she knew everything she was doing was extremely dangerous, but she could do little to stop the desperation and panic from filling her mind. _I want to see my parents,_ she chanted in her head as she ran. A loud noise and shouting came from the farm house behind her. _I want to see Susumu._ She was barely aware of a pain in her left ankle, sprained from jumping from the roof. _I want to see Yuuki and Kazuya, Sakurako and Shigeru. _The guards shouted profanities at her as they ran after her. _I want to see Nishikado-san and Mimasaka-san and Hanazawa Rui_. She was running as fast as she could, but she could hear them getting closer and closer. _I want to see Doumyouji!_ Tears filled her eyes as she ran through the trees. _I want to see Doumyouji!_ She didn't know where she was running, didn't even know if there was anyone for miles. And adrenaline could only do so much. She was weak from hunger and the pain in her ankle could no longer be ignored. "Somebody help me!" Tsukushi cried.

No one answered.

Her foot hit a rock and she went flying face-first into the dirt. The men quickly caught up with her and hauled her up by her arms. One of them punched her in the face. Tsukushi tasted blood on her lips.

"You're going to regret this, you bitch."

She spat blood in their faces.

He hit her across the face again and smiled. "We'll break you of that spirit yet."

"No," she said, coughing. "You won't. I am Tsukushi, the strong weed. I won't be broken."

"We'll see about that."

They cleared out her room and boarded up her window. After beating her until her body was covered in ugly bruises, they dumped her back in the room and handcuffed her to the bed. "We're moving you tomorrow night," they said and slammed the door shut.

She was too tired to cry and too much in pain to think. There was no hope of escape now. There was no way out.

After a few hours of lying there, resting her aching muscles, her stubbornness got the better of her. She fumbled in the darkness for something – anything – useful, the only light streaming through the gap under the door from the hall. A small glint caught her eye and she reached for it. It was a small shard of glass.

There wasn't much she could do with it. It wouldn't help her pry the boards off the window or unlock her handcuffs. It was unlikely to work as a weapon against the guards. Even if she was lucky and hurt one of them, the other would not be far behind.

In the end, she could only think of the thing that came most naturally to her. Scratching characters into the wood floor, she wrote Doumyouji a letter.

* * *

Tsukasa threw the papers across the table. "This is hopeless!" he yelled.

Soujirou looked witheringly from the scattered papers to Tsukasa. "What the hell did you do that for? I had them all organized!"

"Here, Nishikado-san, I'll help you," Yuuki said immediately, already straightening up some of the papers. F4 and Tsukushi's friends – Yuuki, Kazuya, Sakurako, and Shigeru – were going over properties again. It wasn't going well.

"Maybe you could use a break, Doumyouji-san," Sakurako suggested. "I'll go make you some tea."

Tsukasa glared at her. "Go away! This isn't tea time! Makino's been missing for over 3 weeks now! Or have you forgotten?"

"I'm sorry… I just thought…"

"Tsukasa! Don't be so mean to her!" Shigeru shouted from across the room.

Akira put a hand on Tsukasa's shoulder. "Sakurako's only trying to help. We could all use a break. It won't help Makino if we're tired and hungry."

Tsukasa sighed. "Fine, do what you want."

Akira was right, of course. As always. Knowing his mother, she would be well-guarded. If Tsukasa had any hope of rescuing Tsukushi, he had to maintain his strength. But he was frustrated at that as much as anything else. How could he maintain his strength when he could barely sleep three hours each night? How could he stay strong when food tasted like ash in his mouth? Sleeping in Tsukushi's bed helped him sleep at first, but as the days wore on and their searches turned up empty time and time again, he fell back into his old restless routine. He tried eating commoner foods that reminded him of Tsukushi – ramen, hot pot, grilled fish – and though he could keep them down, it just made him miss and worry about her even more, and his appetite never got any better.

He drank Sakurako's tea, forcing it down even though he hated tea. He felt bad for snapping at her. He had been snapping at everyone lately. It wasn't their fault. The search was turning up fruitless. It was true that his family owned fewer rundown, abandoned, or commoner properties than high class hotels, 5-star restaurants, department stores, and high-end residential properties. But he had no idea just how many properties they owned in total, even just in Japan.

The list was provided by his mother's secretary, Nishida. Tsukasa begged him to tell him where Tsukushi was, but Nishida said he didn't know, and Tsukasa trusted him. "I will do what I can to find out, young master," Nishida promised.

"There's not much more we can do tonight," Soujirou said, crossing off the property they had just checked off the list. "You guys wanna go out for drinks?"

"I think we all deserve a little fun," Akira said. "What do you say, Tsukasa? It'll keep your mind off things for a while."

"No," Tsukasa said absently, picking up a paper again and perusing the list. "I'm trying to save money."

Akira and Soujirou chuckled while Sakurako and Shigeru gaped at him. "At least you haven't lost all your sense of humor," Soujirou said.

Rui spoke up from his corner of the room, which had been quiet until now. "Tsukasa isn't joking."

Akira frowned. "But why? What's the point in saving? You're richer than all three of us."

Tsukasa didn't look up. "My _family_ is richer than all three of you. I don't want to depend on my mother anymore."

Rui smiled a little ruefully. "He's embezzling."

"It's not embezzling if they're giving it away to me, Rui," Tsukasa corrected. "I just used to spend it before." He stood up, circling an item on the list. "See ya, guys."

"Where are you going?" Shigeru asked.

"I wanna check out one more place before the end of the day. You guys have fun."

Rui got up too. "Tsukasa, wait," he said, and followed him out the door.

They took Rui's private helicopter to an abandoned farmhouse in Hokkaido. There were a few properties the Doumyouji Group owned in the area, but this one in particular caught Tsukasa's eye. It was miles from any other house or town in any direction, perfect for making sure suspicious activites went unseen.

The house was old and small, with a traditional pagoda-style roof. There were no lights on inside, but Tsukasa and Rui approached the house carefully. "Got the flashlights? We might need them," Tsukasa asked.

Rui nodded, but paused before handing him one.

"What is it?"

Rui pointed. "That window's barred. And boarded up from the inside."

Tsukasa looked, his heart pounding hard in his chest. "Makino…" he whispered.

They looked in the windows first before opening the door cautiously. After peeking into the room from the doorway and convinced no one was in the room, they entered the house.

It was obvious someone had been there recently. The furniture was old and dirty, but there were current magazines, soda cans, and empty ramen packages strewn about the place. Rui looked into the other rooms on the first floor. "No one's here."

"Good. Let's check upstairs."

Tsukasa's heart beat faster as he rose up the stairs. After many disappointing searches, he had learned to keep hope at bay. It was just too painful to expect to find Tsukushi at every turn. But this was different. Somehow, he knew he had made an important find today.

The second floor was small – just a narrow hallway, a bathroom, and one bedroom door. The bathroom was wide open, but the door to the bedroom was closed. Tsukasa tentatively tried the door. It was unlocked. After giving a nod to Rui, he burst through the door.

There was no one there.

Tsukasa looked around frantically. The room was relatively empty. An old, filthy bed, a broken light fixture on the ceiling, a bucket in the far corner. Suddenly, Tsukasa threw his fist into the wall. "Damn it!" he cried, punching again. "Damn it! DAMN IT!"

"Tsukasa!" Rui called, and pointed his flashlight to the floor by the bed. "She was here."

He ran over and looked. A lump formed in his throat. Faint words were scrawled into the wooden floor in familiar handwriting.

_Dear Doumyouji,_

_I miss you. I want to see you so badly. Your mother says she will not let me go until you forget about me. I know that will never happen. I'm still okay. I can be strong for a little longer. I am Tsukushi, the strong weed, after all. But I'm waiting for you. I know you're trying your best. Please don't give up on me. I love you. I will always love you. Tell everyone I miss them too._

_Tsukushi_

Hot tears escaped from Tsukasa's eyes and ran down his face. His fists were clenched tightly, even as the tears fell. "Oh God… Makino…" he whispered before hissing under his breath, "I'm going to kill my mother…"

"She dated it," Rui pointed out, his voice sounding hoarse. "It was a little over a week ago."

He smiled sadly. "Who dates a letter when you're writing it on the floor? Silly girl." The smile fell quickly. "But that means they might have had as much as a week's head start on us. They could be anywhere by now!"

"It's like we're starting over… What do we do now?"

"I don't know. We don't even know where to start." Tsukasa stared back down at the letter. "We'll see if we can find any clues downstairs, then tell the others. And I need a camera."

"A camera? What for?"

"Makino took the time and effort to write that letter. The least I can do is preserve it." Tsukasa exited the room and walked down the stairs. "Come on. Makino's waiting."


	5. Chapter 5

It was an effort to pull herself out of the haze. Tsukushi felt like she was floating just below the surface of a deep pool, but her foot was tethered to a weight, pulling her down no matter how hard she swam to try to break the surface. Tendrils of conversation wafted through her consciousness.

"…don't think we should be using so much…"

"…dangerous. She must be restrained…"

"…adverse side effects. Don't say…"

She was dimly aware that she was sleeping. Or half asleep. How long has she been sleeping? Her mind struggled to recall the last thing she remembered, but she couldn't seem to remember ever being able to remember anything. Had she ever done anything but sleep?

A name poked at her mind, in time with the constant beeping that seemed to be everywhere, always. _Dou… myou… ji… Dou… myou… ji…_ She focused on the sound. _Dou… myou… ji…_ It beeped in time with her heartbeat. _Dou… myou… ji…_ It _was_ her heartbeat. Who does that name belong to? Who is Doumyouji?

The voices were gone. As she focused on the name and the noise, her head felt clearer. She struggled, almost painfully, to open her eyes. _Dou… myou… ji… He's my boyfriend_, she thought triumphantly._Where am I?_ Finally, her eyes opened, though it was difficult to keep them that way. Everything was blurry, dizzying. She needed an anchor… No – anchors kept you tied down; she needed to float. She needed a raft. Something to hold on to, so she could stay above the surface. Her hand went instinctively to a small object around her neck. She held it tightly in her hand, taking comfort in it. And slowly, slowly, there was clarity.

Tsukushi looked around the room, still clutching the Saturn necklace in her hand. She was in a white room with small beeping machines. An IV was connected to her arm. She pulled it out carefully and pushed herself up. There was a wall with a door and a window to the hallway. She took a moment to shake more of the cloudiness from her head. _You are Makino Tsukushi. Your boyfriend is Doumyouji Tsukasa. His mother hates you and kidnapped you. That was… 2 weeks ago? No, you were moved from that awful farmhouse 2 weeks after she kidnapped you. And then you've been asleep… probably for a long time. Anyway, now would be a good time to either escape or get help somehow._

She took a deep breath and pushed herself off the bed. Her legs wobbled precariously, but after she steadied herself with her hands against the bed, they held. She staggered to the wall and peeked through the window down the hallway. Her room was at the corner of an L-shaped hallway. There were two men at the left end of the hall with their backs to her. They were Caucasian, wearing white lab coats. There was another man, Asian and in a black suit, down a hall extending straight from her window. She hid beside the window and tried the door handle, praying silently. It was unlocked. She looked through the window again. The man in the black suit was facing down another hallway, talking to someone she couldn't see. The men in the lab coats were still talking with their backs turned.

_Don't think, just go!_ Tsukushi went through the door quickly, pulling it closed behind her with a faint click. She hobbled noiselessly on the linoleum floor in her bare feet, turning down the first hallway, lucky to find it empty. She went down the hall in an unsteady run, supporting herself with a hand against the wall. She looked down the next hallway. A woman in navy scrubs was pushing a cart into one of the rooms. She waited until the woman was inside and ran down the hall. The next hall was empty. She ran down that as well. _Where's the exit?_

After turning down another hallway, she found a door with a stairway sign above it. She staggered down two floors of steps, then stopped. There were voices coming from the floor below her. She went through the nearest doorway, marked in English: "3rd Floor".

A man was screaming at the other end of the hallway. Tsukushi darted down yet another corridor before a stream of doctors and nurses ran past toward the screaming patient. Shuddering at the sound, she peeked through a doorway and went in.

She found herself in what looked to be an office, probably belonging to one of the doctors on this floor. She locked the door and went to the desk. It was covered with papers and booklets that were probably medical journals. At last, she found what she was looking for. A phone!

Tsukushi closed her eyes, her fingers knowing the number she dialed so well. But a voice answered before she finished dialing. "Hello, Oncological Research Department," a woman's voice said in English. Tsukushi hung up immediately. What did those words even mean?

She looked at the phone. Was it broken? _No, I must have dialed it wrong. I forgot to dial the international code for Japan. Okay. But what does this say on the phone?_ "Diaru nain tsu get autto…" she sounded out._Dial nine to get out… oh, right._ Tsukushi dialed again. It rang this time. "Please, please answer…" she prayed desperately. "Please answer…"

* * *

Tsukasa ran his hands through his curly hair, thinking. "This is getting us nowhere. There's got to be another way!"

F4 were gathered in Rui's house. It was the same routine for the past month. Look through the list of properties, check it out, cross it off the list when it inevitably didn't pan out. After the one lead that went somewhere turned up almost nothing in the way of clues, they were in a wild goose chase.

The only item they found that was of interest was a small vial that once held a drug of some sort. If it had something that Akira's underground connections said they'd look into it, but they regarded it as low on their list of priorities. Apparently his father had a big deal going down and everyone was either busy with preparations or laying low. In the meantime, they tried narrowing their search to facilities related to the medical field.

"Yeah, no luck with the warehouse in Shibuya," Soujirou said apologetically. "I guess no big surprise there."

"Or the clinic you pointed out to us." Akira sighed. "I promise to get on my connections about the drug. They say it's a sedative, but we guessed that already. They promised they'd know more about it in the next few days."

Tsukasa nodded, staring out the window. He didn't even want to think anymore. Everyone told him to be patient, that their luck will change. They told him that even though they got to the farmhouse too late, it at least meant that they were on the right track. But Tsukasa didn't see it that way. Tsukushi's letter haunted him. It told him that even though he was on the right track, that wasn't good enough. She was out there, weeks after she wrote that letter, still waiting for him.

"Your phone's ringing," Rui spoke up from his bed. "I'm trying to take a nap."

Tsukasa turned the ringer off and turned back to the list. "How can you nap at a time like this?"

"How can I not nap at a time like this?"

"You aren't going to answer that?" Akira asked.

Tsukasa shook his head. "They can leave a message."

"What if it's important?"

Tsukasa glared at him.

Akira put his hands up. "Okay, okay."

Soujirou leaned over Tsukasa's papers. "What about Matsuno Diagnostics? That might be a good one."

"Go check it out, then," Tsukasa said, handing him the page.

"Coming, Akira?"

Tsukasa's cell rang again.

"Just answer it!" Rui yelled, burying his head under a pillow.

"What if someone has news?" Soujirou said.

"You really should answer it," Akira agreed.

"Everybody shut up!" Tsukasa yelled. He flipped open his phone. "This better be good," he growled into the phone.

"…Doumyouji?"

Tsukasa's heart grew still. He almost dropped the phone. "M-Makino?" he whispered.

"Oh, thank God! I was afraid I'd have to leave a message."

He clutched the phone to his ear like a lifeline. Tsukushi's voice sounded tired and strained, as if she was in pain. But it was her! After over a month without any contact with her, her voice was like an oasis in the desert. "Makino! Are you all right? Where are you?" The others stared at him, waiting with bated breath.

"Why didn't you answer? I had to call twice."

"Never mind that, stupid! Where are you?"

Tsukushi paused and began whispering. "I'm sorry, it's hard to focus. I'm in a hospital or… or a clinic or something. In America. I'm not sure where."

"America?!"

"Probably New York, since it's your mother."

"Do you know the name of the company? Anything I could use?"

"Wait, let me see." He heard the rustling of papers on her end. "I don't know. It's all in English and I don't have a lot of time…"

"Anything at all?"

"I'm in someone's office right now. A Doctor Faison. F-A-I-S-O-N. Oh! And I dialed an extension on accident, and the lady said something about 'research.' They were holding me in a room on the 5th floor."

Tsukasa wrote it all down as fast as he could and handed the scrap of paper to Akira. "Start looking into all this – hurry."

Akira nodded, copied the information to another piece of paper for Soujirou, and left. Soujirou picked up a portion of the list for New York and began looking through it.

"We might be able to get the company number from your cell, Tsukasa," Rui said.

Tsukasa nodded. "Don't worry, Makino. I'll fly out there as soon as I can."

"I know, I know. I just… I don't know what to do now. They'll find me sooner or later. I don't know how to get out of here, and I don't want them to sedate me again. I'm so tired, but I don't want to sleep anymore. It was so hard to wake up before, Doumyouji. What if I don't wake up again?"

"Don't say that! You'll be all right. Just hang in there a little longer. You'll be all right. You're strong. You can hang in there."

"I'll try. I'm scared, but you know I'll try."

He could hear her voice trembling, even as she whispered. "Did they hurt you?"

"Yes… they beat me up pretty badly before. It's better now, though. I don't really remember what they do to me here. I think… I think they just keep me sedated. I tried to escape from the farmhouse."

"I saw. I… I saw your letter. I never gave up on you, Makino. I won't rest until you're safe."

"Doumyouji," she said, crying. Her voice was so small. "I'm so scared I'll never see you again. I want to see you. I miss you!"

"I'm scared too. But it'll be okay. I'll find you. Don't give up! I love you."

"I…" There was a sudden bang on her end. Men were shouting. "Damn it! They found me!"

"Makino? What's going on? Makino?"

"I love you, Tsukasa," she whispered.

There was a crash. Tsukushi screamed.

"Makino! Shit, if you people hurt her…!"

"Let go of me, you bastards! Let go!"

A man yelped on her end. "Ow! Damn bitch bit me!"

"That's what you get, you weakling! Get your hands off me!"

"Tsukushi! TSUKUSHI!" Tsukasa yelled.

The line went dead.

"Fuck!" Tsukasa kicked the table over, sending everything flying. "If they hurt her… Oh God, if they hurt her…" He collapsed to the floor, burying his face in his hands.

_Calm down, calm down… you can't help her if you're panicking._ He took a few long, shuddering breaths. When he looked up, Rui was kneeling beside him with a hand on his shoulder. "She's strong," Rui said, making it sound more like a statement of fact than a platitude. In a way, that made it more reassuring. "She won't give up easily. Not without a fight."

"I know."

"Are you okay?" Rui asked.

Tsukasa nodded roughly, gritting his teeth. "Soujirou, how's it coming?"

Soujirou shrugged. "It's a short list. Hopefully anything Akira finds out will narrow it down more. We're looking at 6 medical research facilities in and around New York that your family owns. Once we get there, we could probably narrow it down even more just by looking at the building. If it doesn't have at least 5 floors, it's not the one."

"Right. You two coming with me?"

"Wouldn't miss it. Somebody's gotta keep you out of trouble," Soujirou said with a smile.

Rui nodded his agreement. "It's for Makino."

"I'm betting Akira will want to come too. He'll be the one to keep _me_out of trouble." Soujirou laughed.

Tsukasa forced a smile, despite the fear that was still roiling in his stomach. "Call Yuuki and the others. They can take over for you and try to narrow it down for us."

"Of course." Soujirou immediately began dialing.

Tsukasa turned to his best friend. "Rui, we'll need a jet. The fastest one you have."

Rui yawned. "I can have it at our airport in an hour."

"Good. I want to leave for New York as soon as possible." Tsukasa walked to the door.

"Where are you going?" Soujirou asked him, hanging up with Yuuki.

"Home," Tsukasa said between clenched teeth. "I have to pack my things. I won't be returning there."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Thanks so much for all the kind reviews! Knowing that people are actually reading what I write gives me lots of inspiration!

* * *

Heavy hands held Tsukushi in a kneeling position in the hallway outside her 5th floor room. They had stabbed her leg with something when she was fighting against them earlier; it was a struggle even to stay conscious. She didn't think she had ever felt so exhausted in her life. _What are they waiting for?_ she wondered.

The sound of footsteps echoed in the quiet hallway. The faint scuffle of feet against linoleum was punctuated by the clacking of high heels. It was a sharp, precise sound – each footstep commanded attention, much like the woman it belonged to. Tsukushi willed herself not to be afraid. Despite all that had been done to her, she reminded herself that Doumyouji Kaede was still only one woman.

The heavy hands pulled Tsukushi to her feet roughly. Her legs felt like jelly. She was sure she would collapse if the men weren't holding her so tightly. Kaede stopped before her and looked into her eyes with an expressionless face.

"Security informs me that you have been… busy. That you contacted someone?" The older woman regarded Tsukushi with a thinly veiled look of disgust. "I take it I know who you called?"

Tsukushi didn't say anything. She clenched her jaw, her insides boiling with anger. She mustn't provoke. She had to stop herself from saying anything that might jeopardize Doumyouji's chances of rescuing her.

"It does not matter," Kaede said, looking away. "He will not come."

"How do you know?" Tsukushi couldn't help asking.

"As I said when last I saw you, Makino-san, I know fully well that my son cares for you. But will he care for you so much when he's penniless?" She smiled mockingly. "I think not. He will not possibly risk losing all the luxuries I provide for him. Tsukasa enjoys power, you see. He enjoys the feeling that he's better than everyone else. And with good reason. He is better. Far better than a pauper of a girl like yourself. How can he come for you when all you can promise him is a life of nothingness?"

"You don't know your son nearly as well as you think."

"We shall see. He may be rebellious, but he is not a complete fool."

Tsukushi smiled inwardly. _Oh, but Tsukasa is the biggest fool I have ever known!_

Kaede sighed, as if greatly burdened by Tsukushi's presence. "Take her away," she said, waving her hand absently to the men on either side of Tsukushi. "And give her an extra dose of the sedative. If she so much as tries to run off again, everyone in this facility is fired." With that, she turned on her heel and began to walk away.

"You know," Tsukushi spoke up, softly, almost to herself. "It's so amazing that two such wonderful people came from a woman like you. Tama-senpai must be so proud of how she raised them."

Kaede turned again, raising her hand as if to slap Tsukushi, but it stopped in midair. Instead, she adjusted her suit jacket and smiled. "You are simply not worth the effort."

The men dragged her away as Kaede walked back down the hallway, her piercing footsteps growing softer until they were gone. A doctor followed them into Tsukushi's room.

"You have the drug?" one of Kaede's men said to the doctor.

"Yes," the doctor said hesitantly. "But I told you before, you're already giving her more than the recommended dose! If you give her more, you risk putting her in a coma!"

"Then she won't be running off, now will she?" He shoved Tsukushi onto the bed and strapped her in this time. It didn't matter. She no longer had the energy to struggle.

"But…"

"Do you want to lose your job? You make a lot of money here, don't you, Doctor?"

The doctor frowned, but said nothing. He hooked up the IV to Tsukushi's arm and prepared a needle to inject into it.

"Please, you don't have to do this," Tsukushi said to him.

He injected the drug into the IV. "I'm sorry."

Tsukushi almost immediately began to drift off. Her eyes closed and her breathing slowed. As she began to lose consciousness, a string of thought swam through her mind. _Doumyouji will come for me. I know it. He will come._

* * *

Tsukasa gazed out the window of Rui's family jet, losing himself in the clouds and the midnight blue sea below. He tried to read, but couldn't concentrate. He tried to sleep, but anxiety and fear kept his mind racing. In the end, he put on headphones to listen to music, in the hope that the sound would at least distract him a little.

He was worried. Finding Tsukushi was one thing, actually getting her out was something else entirely. They didn't have a plan, no blueprints or diagrams to go off of, not even an idea of where on the 5th floor Tsukushi was being held. That's if she hasn't been moved, and if they can find the right building. He ran a hand through his hair. Tsukushi was counting on him – he couldn't lose his confidence now. But it was precisely because her life was at stake that he felt so shaken.

"_I love you, Tsukasa."_

Tsukasa shook his head to clear it. The phone call from Tsukushi haunted him, even as it gave him renewed hope. She rarely called him by his given name. Under normal circumstances, it would have made him almost giddy with joy to hear her call him "Tsukasa." But there was fear and a touch of resignation in her voice. It was as if they were final words, the last words she would ever say to him.

He shoved the thought violently from his mind. _I can't afford to doubt myself. I'll save her. I'll save her, and she'll be okay. I have to believe she'll be okay._

* * *

Some 20 hours later, Tsukasa and the others sat in a Hanazawa Industries car, eyeing the tall building before them, Maple Leaf Research and Diagnostics. It was past 11 o'clock. The night was dark and still. Soujirou turned around in the driver's seat to look at them.

"Okay, so Yuuki and the others looked up that Doctor Faison that Makino mentioned. Out of the six medical facilities your family owns, Tsukasa, only two of them have someone by that name working there – there's this one, and then Doumyouji Laboratories about 40 miles from here. Maple Leaf isn't as high-profile as Doumyouji Laboratories, so it seems more likely that Makino is here."

Tsukasa looked towards the fifth floor, his eyes scanning the few windows, as if he might be able to see Tsukushi, if only he looked hard enough.

"Now, we can either all check out Maple Leaf first, and hit the other place later, or we can split up. You and Rui can take this one, and Akira and I will drive to the other one."

"It's your choice, Tsukasa. Whatever you want to do, we're behind you," Akira said.

Tsukasa thought for a moment. "Do you think you guys can handle it by yourselves?"

Akira nodded. "I've got some of my father's men on standby in case we need help," he said, holding up his cell phone. "I gave the number to Rui too, just in case. I think they're actually excited. They said something about bringing the powerful Doumyouji's down a notch… No offense."

"None taken." Tsukasa looked from the building to Rui. "You up for it?"

Rui nodded. "Makino's waiting."

"Good, now that that's settled…" Akira reached by his feet and pulled out a couple of black batons. "You might need these."

Soujirou gaped. "Where'd you get those?"

Akira shrugged. "My dad, where else? You don't expect us to do this with just our bare fists, do you?"

"I suppose not." Soujirou gave Tsukasa a stern look. "Just don't kill anybody."

Tsukasa smirked. "I'll try."

Rui put a hand on Tsukasa's shoulder. "Ready?"

He nodded. "Let's go. Good luck, guys," he said to the others.

"You too." Akira waved.

"I mean it about not killing anybody!" Soujirou called as they closed the door.

The car drove off as Tsukasa and Rui stood in an alleyway across the street from the facility. Tsukasa felt a strange calm wash over him as he mentally prepared himself for what was sure to be a rough fight ahead. He pushed any remaining anxiety out of his head. "So, how do you think we should do this?"

Rui shrugged and grinned. "Just go in and ask nicely, I guess."

"Heh. Right."

"You just worry about Makino. I'll distract them as much as I can. I'll be right behind you."

Tsukasa nodded and, together, they walked across the street into the building.


	7. Chapter 7

There was a security station just inside the doorway. A man behind a counter said lazily, "ID please," in English.

Wanting to get inside with as little trouble as possible, Tsukasa whipped out his American ID card. Rui followed suit.

"I meant your company badge," the guard said in annoyance. He eyed them a little more closely. "Who are you guys?"

"You don't know who I am?" Tsukasa answered, also in English.

"I wouldn't have asked if I knew."

He pointed to his ID. "Tsukasa Doumyouji. I own this place."

"Surprise inspection," Rui added.

The guard looked from one to the other. "I didn't hear about an inspection."

"It wouldn't be a surprise if you knew, now would it?"

"I demand that you take my colleague through the facility," Tsukasa said, indicating Rui. "Show him everything, you understand?"

"I don't know…" the guard said suspiciously. "I think I'll have to call my superiors…" He turned around and reached for the phone.

Tsukasa sighed. "We don't have time for this," he muttered. He took out his baton and swung it at the back of the guard's head. The man instantly collapsed in a heap on the floor. "Rui, do you think you can disarm the cameras?"

"This isn't a movie, Tsukasa. I'm not a hacker," Rui replied. He went on the other side of the counter anyway, and looked at the controls. "Just go. I'll try to create a distraction in another part of the building."

"Be careful," Tsukasa said before turning away.

"You too." As he ran down the hall, he heard Rui say, "Oh, look. The fire alarm controls!"

Tsukasa turned down the hallway. It was empty, with signs on the walls that he still could not read very well. He snuck past a few laboratory windows, but most of the rooms inside were empty. The few people he saw still working at this late hour were too engrossed in their projects to notice him run past. After running for a few meters, he found a stairwell.

He climbed the stairs easily, his long legs taking them two at a time. His heart began to beat faster as hope filled him. He was getting closer to Tsukushi – he could feel it – and his spine tingled in anticipation. As he passed the 2nd floor, he heard the distant sound of a fire alarm from behind the door to the hallway. He smiled faintly at Rui's handiwork, and continued up the flights of stairs.

As he approached the 4th floor, he heard hurried footsteps coming down his way. He looked up and saw two men in black suits, probably coming to see to the commotion on the 2nd floor. Tsukasa ran up the stairs faster, supporting himself on the railing as he launched himself into the air and kicked the men squarely in their chests. They toppled backward, then slid down the rest of the way to the 3rd floor landing. Tsukasa went on, not giving the men a second thought.

When he reached the 5th floor, he took a deep breath. As easy as it was for him to get this far, he knew that if Tsukushi was here, this is where all the security would be. He took hold of the baton Akira had given him and opened the door.

The area just outside the stairwell was empty. Tsukasa turned down the closest hallway. Three men walking past at the other end of the hallway spotted him, and yelled. Tsukasa charged them at a run, swinging the baton in graceful arcs before him, catching one of the men in the head. The second took a swing at him, but Tsukasa dodged easily, catching his opponent by the collar and throwing him into the third man. The two staggered to get up, but Tsukasa hit them both with one roundhouse kick and they collapsed.

The noise attracted two other henchmen, and Tsukasa went after them too, without hesitation. Both groups of men had come from the same direction, and he knew that Tsukushi must be somewhere that way. He whirled the baton, but they dodged. Tsukasa quickly grabbed one of their arms and swung him into the wall, even as he turned to punch the other in the face. The man staggered, and Tsukasa punched again, knocking him out. He hurried onward.

The next hallway was empty. It felt good to fight, to be able to let out nearly two months' worth of pent up anger and frustration. Adrenaline pumped through him, his excitement mounting as he ran down the hallway and turned toward the next. Soon, he would see her. Soon, they would be together again.

A nurse screamed upon seeing him. He didn't blame her, as he readied the baton in his hand and imagined that the murderous look was probably on his face. Three more men looked his way and ran at him. Tsukasa rushed past the screaming nurse and kicked the first man to the floor. The second man caught Tsukasa in a kick to the stomach. He gasped and sputtered, but remained upright, kneeling on the floor. He swung the baton angrily at the man's legs, knocking him to the ground face first, and hit him again on the back of the head as he struggled to get up. The third man approached fast, punching Tsukasa in the face. Tsukasa wiped a spot of blood from his mouth and punched back, hitting him in the lower abdomen, then in an uppercut across the jaw. The man fell backward to the floor in a heap. Tsukasa struggled for breath.

The nurse still stared at him, no longer screaming, but her mouth moving in unintelligible murmurs. He walked to her, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Where is Tsukushi Makino?" he asked in English, his lungs still aching from lack of air. "Please, I only want to find her."

"I… I…" the woman stammered.

"_Oshiete kure,_ you _baka onna_!" he hissed, too tense to care what language he was speaking in now.

Her face white, the nurse pointed down towards the adjoining hall towards the left.

"Thank you." His heart beating impossibly faster, he ran toward the left end of the next hallway.

He turned the corner and gasped. Mere meters from where he stood was a window, and just beyond that window lay Tsukushi.

She was incredibly pale, her eyes closed, asleep. Her brow was furrowed as if she was troubled or in pain. Her hair lay in limp sheets around her face. She was thin – thinner than ever before – and he had already thought her too thin to begin with. Even from this distance, he could see the bruises and scratches that marred the skin on her face and arms. Anger swelled within him. Pain at the sight of her pierced his chest. How could anyone have turned such a vibrant person into this lifeless person before him? Was she alive? _Oh God, she has to be alive…_

Tsukasa ran towards her, but in the split second of his shock in seeing her, four men had come at him from behind. They grabbed hold of his arms and legs. He struggled against them, but he eventually lost his balance and fell hard to his knees. "No… Let me go!" he yelled. They twisted the baton out of his hands. He looked up in panic at the window. He was so close! "Let me go! Makino! Makino!"

A man stepped in front of him, blocking his sight of Tsukushi. "We had a feeling you might show up, Doumyouji-sama. It's commendable that you made it this far."

"Your men are weak," Tsukasa spat. "I was just distracted."

"Yes, you are strong. Your mother would be proud."

"Where is the old hag? Is she here?"

The man smiled. "Probably at home, sleeping like a normal person. You should be at home too, Young Master."

"What have you done to Makino?"

"She's sedated. She puts up too much of a fight, even when she should be out cold. We had to increase her dosage." He smirked. "None of us are sure if she'll wake up from that. It could probably put a horse to sleep."

Tsukasa looked around the man, staring at Tsukushi. She hadn't moved at all. Fear numbed his skin and made him cold. "If she doesn't wake up, I swear, I will make sure none of you live to regret it."

The man crouched down and pulled Tsukasa's face up to his own. "Empty threats, Doumyouji-sama. Empty threats. After all, how are you going to get out of this now?"

"I'm sure he'll think of something," a voice said.

At the same time, there was a rush of movement and a couple loud thunks. The man in charge fell backward, as well as the man to Tsukasa's right. He threw a punch at the man to his left as more fighting ensued behind him. Tsukasa turned around. "Rui!"

The men who were holding on to Tsukasa's legs lay unconscious on the floor. Rui was looking down at them in disgust. "Behind you," he said.

Tsukasa dodged a punch, grabbed the extended arm, and threw him over his shoulder to the floor. "Thanks. Can you take care of the rest?" he asked Rui. He heard even more footsteps coming down the hall.

"Sure, but hurry. The Mimasaka clan is on their way here, but let's not wait around for them, okay?"

Tsukasa nodded and ran to Tsukushi's room.

The steady beeping of the machines calmed him slightly, the sound signaling that her heart was still beating. He approached the bed quickly, his heart beating loudly in his ears, his skin still prickling with fear. He immediately released her arms and legs from the buckled straps that held her to the bed, his spine shivering at the sight of them. "Makino? Makino, wake up."

She did not move. She did not even stir.

Tsukasa's breath caught in his chest as he gazed at her. Despite all they had done to her, she was his Tsukushi, and still the most beautiful thing in the world. After over 4 years apart, it felt unreal to him, to finally be able to look at her. He reverently touched her face. Her skin was cold to the touch. He shook her gently. "Makino. Makino, please wake up. Please, it's Tsukasa."

He pulled her close to him, pressing his face against her cheek, breathing her in. She no longer smelled like lavender, but that one scent – the one that was unmistakably Tsukushi – still lingered. His breathing grew ragged, and emotion threatened to bubble forth from him. He stamped it down, taking deep, slow breaths. There was still much to do. They weren't safe yet.

He carefully pulled the IV out from her hand, and the heart monitoring nodes from her chest. He mused briefly how she would have screeched at him touching her chest, calling him a pervert. But the thought was tinged with bitterness. He didn't know if she would ever screech at him again.

"Tsukasa!" Rui called from outside. "Hurry!"

Tsukasa wrapped Tsukushi in one of the sheets and gathered her up in his arms. He kissed her gently on the forehead. "Don't worry, Makino. I'll protect you." He carried her out.

Rui was just finishing off another guard, swirling in a kick that flung the man into the nurse's station. The fight must have been tough; Rui's face had broken out in an uncharacteristic sweat. "Ready?"

Tsukasa glanced around at the unconscious men lying around them. "Nice work."

Rui shrugged. "How is she?"

Tsukasa looked at Tsukushi's still face. "She won't wake up," he said with a cough.

His best friend frowned. "We should get going, then."

They ran back down the hallways, Rui taking the lead. The halls were empty, save for a few unconscious bodies. The nurse from before was gone, and as they rushed past, Tsukasa noticed the men who he had fought before were now stirring. He adjusted his hold on Tsukushi and ran faster.

They burst into the stairwell, going down as fast as they could, Tsukasa concentrating on keeping his balance as they descended. There was a shout from below. Rui surged ahead, his baton at the ready. He swung, and the baton connected with the heads of two surprised guards with a hollow sound. Down they continued, past the third floor landing. Tsukasa frowned. Their luck was good so far, but could it last all the way out of the building?

As they reached the second floor, there was a noise from behind them.

"I think someone's following us," Rui called over his shoulder.

"Never mind them, just keep moving!" Tsukasa called back. They were so close to the first floor, so close to succeeding. Just a little bit farther…

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Rui held open the door for Tsukasa. Footsteps were coming fast behind them. He pulled the door shut behind them and held it shut. "Go!" he yelled. "I'll be right behind you!"

Tsukasa ran down this final hallway, clutching Tsukushi tightly to his chest. His legs began to feel heavy from so much running. As thin as Tsukushi was, it was difficult to run while carrying her for so long. He glanced over his shoulder. Rui was several meters behind them, getting to his feet after another fight.

Tsukasa turned the corner to the lobby and skidded to a stop. There, in front of the doorway, stood his mother with no less than 15 of her agents. His blood boiled at the sight of her.

"I see…" Kaede said. "It seems you really are a complete fool."

"Get out of the way," Tsukasa said through gritted teeth.

"You are stealing my property. I cannot simply let that slide."

"She belongs to no one. Least of all, you."

Rui appeared at his side. "Why did you…" he panted. He looked around at Tsukasa's mother and the men surrounding them. "Oh. Hello, Auntie."

Kaede narrowed her eyes at Rui. "I should have known you would be with him."

"I said, get out of the way." Tsukasa glared at her. If he was not holding Tsukushi, he wasn't sure he could have contained his anger.

"You would throw away your life for this slip of a girl?" his mother said, making a face as if in the presence of something filthy. "I will not allow this… thing… into our family."

Tsukasa smirked. "You don't have to worry, _Mother_. She won't be a part of your family. And neither will I. Not anymore."

Kaede stepped forward, glaring into his eyes. "And what do you mean by that?"

He met her glare, his eyes never wavering. "Exactly what it sounds like. I'm disowning you, Kaede. I won't be a Doumyouji anymore."

"You can't mean that."

"I really do."

"You'll be poor and powerless. You will have no future. You will certainly regret this."

"I doubt it."

As they stared each other down over Tsukushi's head, several men burst through the door, carrying guns. They pointed their guns at Kaede's agents. "Hanazawa-sama, the Mimasaka clan is at your service," a gruff, bearded man said with a grin. "I take it we came just in the nick of time?"

Rui nodded. "Excellent timing, yes."

Tsukasa didn't move. "We're leaving. Try to stop us, if you dare."

At first, Kaede did not move either. Yet after a long moment, her eyes broke away from her son's and she waved at her men to stand down. Tsukasa carried Tsukushi past them, Rui following closely behind.

Just as they reached the door, Kaede spoke up again. "Will you really be content to live your life as a nothing?"

Tsukasa turned around and smiled at her. "Oh, but I won't be a nothing. I think, if she'll have me, I'd like to be a Makino."

The woman who was once his mother screamed with rage as he turned back around and walked out the door.

* * *

**A/N: **_Oshiete kure,_ you _baka onna!_ "Tell me, you stupid woman!" (Yes, the English "you" is intentional. Tsukasa was so frustrated, he forgot which language he was supposed to be speaking in.) 


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Thank you again for the wonderful reviews! After writing the last couple installments, I couldn't stop! I hope you enjoy the conclusion of the story in the following chapters.

* * *

The feeling of triumph Tsukasa felt was short-lived. They arrived at Rui's penthouse, but Tsukushi was still unconscious. Tsukasa let the maids clean her up and dress her in a fresh robe. He then laid her gently on the bed in one of the spare rooms and knelt beside her, holding her hand.

"Soujirou and Akira are still on their way back," Rui said softly from behind him. "Kenji – the big guy with the beard – he called for the clan doctor. He should be here first thing in the morning."

Tsukasa nodded, barely hearing him. "I was going to propose to her," he whispered.

Rui put a hand on his shoulder. "You still can."

Tsukasa looked up at him and nodded again. "Just have to keep believing in her, right?"

"It's always worked for me." Rui headed for the door. "I'll leave you two alone."

Tsukasa watched him leave, and wished for a moment that he had Rui's confidence. He had no doubt in Tsukushi's ability to survive or fight back. But this, a drug neither of them had any control over… well, even weeds can't survive when they've been poisoned. He watched her slow breathing, wondering if she was fighting a war against this drug within herself. It made him feel better, to think of it that way. If Tsukushi could fight, she would surely win in the end.

"I guess you can't hear me," he said to her, "but there's so much I've wanted to tell you, so I guess you're just gonna have to listen." He pressed his lips to her hand and sighed. "I really missed you. And I'm sorry you got caught up in this mess. I'm sorry for what the old hag did to you. You suffered like this because of me. I'll make it up to you, somehow."

He cupped her face in his hand, her skin warm from the bath. He ran her hair through his fingers; it was still damp, but soft to the touch. Bending to reach her, he kissed her softly on the lips, taking comfort from the small bit of contact he had craved for so long. He paused, gazing at her face, her brow still furrowed in an expression of pain, wanting to hold her, to give her comfort too. He got up and climbed into bed beside her, gathering her up in his arms. Holding her close, he whispered into her hair. "Come back to me, Makino. I need you. Please come back to me."

He laid his head against the pillows, the excitement of the day and weeks of restless nights getting the better of him. Kissing the top of her head, sleep washed over him despite all his worry, his head dropping to the side. Cradling Tsukushi in his arms, Tsukasa slept – truly slept – feeling a small sense of peace at last.

* * *

The doctor arrived early the next morning. Tsukasa was surprised to find himself still in Tsukushi's bed shortly before the doctor came in, and he blushed despite himself. Soujirou ushered him out to the living room, where they waited with Akira.

"How is she?" Soujirou asked.

Tsukasa shrugged, not really wanting to talk about it. "The same."

"She'll come out of it okay, Tsukasa," Akira said. "She always does."

He looked back at the door. "Yeah…"

He paced back and forth in front of the door for a while before Soujirou yelled that it was driving him crazy. Akira persuaded him to eat some breakfast. Tsukasa forced down some eggs and coffee, then sat anxiously by the door. An hour later, the doctor finally emerged. Tsukasa stood up.

The old doctor turned to him, sighing as he cleaned his glasses. "Makino-san is in a deep state of unconsciousness, much like a drug-induced coma. Except when doctors induce comas, it's a controlled dosage. With this much…" He cleared his throat, looking up at Tsukasa. "No one should ever be given that much sedative. It's amazing she's still alive and breathing on her own, to be honest."

Tsukasa stared at him. "But… what… will she wake up?"

The old man frowned. "It's hard to say. Sometimes patients come out of deep comas faster. It's like rebooting a computer – the mind and body are able to start fresh. And then they wake up in a few days, with relatively little recovery time. But sometimes patients stay in deep comas for weeks, months… sometimes years."

Tsukasa sat down again, burying his face in his hands. "Years? But…" He wanted to scream and yell, to kick things, to punch holes in the walls. Yet he could not muster the strength to do any of those things.

"It's too early to tell, yet. It may not be that long. As I said, she's breathing on her own. It's a good sign. If she doesn't wake up by the end of the week, give me a call. For now, I've hooked her up to an IV and will have my nurses stay here in shifts to monitor her."

"Can I go in and see her?"

The doctor nodded. "Let the nurse know if you need anything. I'm sorry I don't have better news for you."

"Yeah," he answered vaguely and walked into the room.

Tsukasa closed the door softly behind him, thinking immediately that it was stupid to do so. He pulled a chair up to the bed and held her hand, careful not to disturb the IV. _I feel so useless. What am I supposed to do? What can I do?_

"Makino, you can't leave me for years, okay?" He brushed a few stray hairs out of her face. "Didn't I tell you? I'm a wreck without you." He felt heavy and cold, like stone. Pressing her hand to his face, he tried to cry, thinking it might take some weight from him. But the tears wouldn't come. His head spun with thought. Years without her? More interminable years? Something fierce and terrible burst inside him. Not anger – no, he knew what that felt like. His lungs felt tight. His heartbeat was loud and erratic. "You can't do this to me, okay? Don't you think 4 years was enough? Please, you have to come back! Please!" he begged her, in a hoarse whisper. "There's no meaning if you don't come back…" He raised a trembling hand to her face, trying to calm himself with her touch, but it only reminded him more of what he might be losing. _This must be what it feels like_, he thought bitterly, _when you go insane._

* * *

The next few days passed with agonizing slowness, but without incident. Tsukasa woke up each morning with pangs of hope, only to find her still sleeping. He thought of each day as a step closer to losing her completely, and could do nothing to quench the despair rising up within him.

Soujirou, Akira, and Rui came and went to varying degrees, tired of just sitting around the apartment waiting for something that may never come. Tsukasa, however, could not be persuaded to leave Tsukushi's side for more than a few moments, taking his meals in the room and spending his time reading business magazines beside her on the bed. He said nothing to the nurses who checked Tsukushi's vitals and changed the bandages on her wounds. And as each passing day went by, and Tsukushi slept on, Tsukasa grew still more irritable and anxious.

The morning of the fifth day, he woke up after a mostly restless night and rolled over to look at her. She was still the same. "You're doing this to punish me, aren't you?" he grumbled at her, and got up for breakfast.

Tsukasa sat down at a table by the window of the bedroom, eating his omelette and reading another magazine. He considered whether he should call that doctor again and yell at him for being a hack, or maybe beg him to come back and take another look at her (he hadn't decided which – maybe both), but the doctor _had_ said "by the end of the week," so he decided it'd be best to wait until tomorrow.

"Doumyouji?"

Tsukasa was so startled that he choked on a mouthful of omelette. He rushed to Tsukushi's side. "Makino?"

Her eyes were open, and full of tears. "Is it a dream? Am I still sleeping?" she asked in a small voice.

He shook his head, afraid to speak. His heart thumped wildly in his chest and a lump formed deep in his throat. He took her hand and held it to his face.

Tsukushi gave a shuddering sigh. "Oh, thank God!"

Tsukasa swallowed hard before speaking. "Are you okay? How do you feel?"

"Okay… Groggy." She wiped tears from her eyes. "Where am I?"

"New York. Rui's apartment." He cleared his throat nervously. "You're probably hungry. I'll go have one of the maids make you some soup…" he said, getting up.

Tsukushi grabbed his arm with surprising strength. "No, stay. Please, just stay for a bit." She looked him over, smiling. "You look awful."

He laughed, the first time in what seemed like ages. "Stupid, speak for yourself."

She reached up, touching his curly hair absently, and scanned his face. Her smile faded. "You look so tired. Have you been sleeping?" she said softly. "You must've been so worried."

"I_was_ worried. Don't scare me like that ever again! You were gone for so long, and I looked everywhere for you! Then when I found you, you wouldn't wake up, and the doctor said…" He looked away, blinking furiously. "Forget it. It's over now."

She pulled his face back to look at her. "I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for? It's not your fault. I should be the one apologizing."

"It's not your fault either."

"Well, I'm sorry anyway," he said, looking down at their hands.

"Doumyouji…"

He shook his head. "I'm not Doumyouji anymore."

Tsukushi laughed a little – a small, lilting sound that warmed his heart. "What are you talking about, dummy? Who are you, then?" She frowned. "You're not Amon, are you? Trying to trick me?"

"What? No! Stop being such an idiot! I'm Tsukasa! Just Tsukasa!"

She giggled again, weakly. "I'm sure you are, but I really have no idea what you're talking about."

He smiled at her, despite himself, and kissed her on the forehead to calm her laughing. "I gave up my family name. I disowned my mother. So I'm not a Doumyouji anymore. Just Tsukasa, for now."

Her eyes filled with tears again. "You really did that? For me?"

He nodded. "For us. What she did to you is unforgivable. I might've killed her, given the chance. I don't ever want to live under her thumb. Not again. We live for ourselves, now."

Her tears spilled over, but she smiled at him. "That's wonderful!"

Tsukasa wiped tears from her face with his fingertips. "What's this? You were laughing just a second ago," he said, smiling again. His heart surged with emotion for this little mercurial woman. "So you have to call me Tsukasa, okay?"

She nodded, then blushed a bright red. "But it's not fair if you call me Makino, and I call you Tsukasa. So… you have to call me Tsukushi from now on."

He grinned, and couldn't help himself anymore. He kissed her, relishing in the feel of her lips move against his. "I missed you, Tsukushi. I missed you so much." Needing more, he kissed her again, a little more deeply this time.

"Tsukasa," she said breathlessly. "I missed you too. I love you."

"I love you," he answered.

"I see someone's awake," a voice said from the door.

Tsukasa whirled around. Soujirou, Akira, and a bleary-eyed Rui stood smiling at the doorway. Tsukasa and Tsukushi both turned bright red.

"You don't waste time, do you, Tsukasa?" Soujirou said, waggling his eyebrows.

"Shut up!" Tsukasa said, pushing them out of the room. "I haven't seen her in over 4 years! What do you expect?"

"What are you talking about? You saw her yesterday!"

"You know what I mean!"

"Well, if you didn't wanna be disturbed, you should've closed the door."

"It's a lot like one of those dramas, isn't it?" Akira said, laughing. "Girl comes out of a coma, starts up romance with the young man taking care of her…"

"I said, shut up! It's not like that!"

"Everyone's so loud for early in the morning," Rui said, rubbing his eyes.

"Rui, it's nearly noon," Akira told him.

"Is it? Maybe I should go back to bed, then."

"Hanazawa Rui, I haven't seen you in so long!"

"Makino, how're you feeling?"

"Hey!" Tsukasa pushed him too. "Rui, get away from her!"

"I'm just saying hello."

"It doesn't matter! Everybody go away! You people never change!"


	9. Chapter 9: Epilogue

Once again, Tsukasa found himself on a plane back to Japan from New York, with a velvet box in his pocket. Tsukushi sat beside him with her head on his shoulder, snoring loudly and drooling a little. He had been afraid to let her sleep the first few nights, fearing she would slip away again, and never wake up. But he was glad she was sleeping soundly just then, even though she was being terribly un-cute. She had been having nightmares this past week, ones that woke both of them up in the middle of the night. She would probably have them for a while, and he swore to be there for each of them, to comfort her through the night.

He was happy to be flying home. New York had never done anything but cause him trouble. As soon as the doctor said Tsukushi was strong enough to travel, Tsukasa insisted they take one of Rui's planes out of there the next day. But the week had passed quickly, because in spite of the dreams that plagued Tsukushi during the night, she was her old self during the day. Her presence did wonders to improve Tsukasa's mood. The change in him was immediate, like wind blowing away storm clouds. He felt lighter than air and was amazed at how readily he smiled. And in those precious hours where they were alone together, he was reminded – time and again – how pointless the past 4 years had been.

"What's that?"

Tsukasa turned to find Tsukushi staring up at him with curious eyes. "What's what?"

"That!" She pointed toward his hand.

He looked down. The velvet box. Without knowing it, he had been twirling it in his hand while he was thinking. He turned red. "Nothing!" he said, jamming it back in his pocket. _I'm such an idiot!_

"No, really, what is it?" She tugged gently on his arm.

"It's nothing! Leave me alone!" He pulled his arm as if to wrench it away from her, but he rather liked the feel of her there, and let her keep holding on to his sleeve.

"Fine…" she said, sticking her tongue out at him. Her tone of voice said she wasn't really letting it go yet.

Tsukasa smiled and picked up a magazine. "By the way, you were snoring earlier."

"I was not!"

"Sure you were. I bet Rui heard you."

She shoved him a little but laughed. "You're horrible."

"I know."

There was silence for a bit. Tsukushi got an orange juice from the flight attendant.

"Hey, Tsukasa?" she said, sipping thoughtfully.

"Hmm?"

"So… you disowned your family, right?"

He nodded. "Everybody but Onee-chan." He wasn't sure how an adult disowns his parents and not his sister, but he liked how dramatic it sounded. He'd ask Rui's lawyers about it sometime.

"Then, where are you going to live?"

Tsukasa looked up from the magazine. "I hadn't really thought about it," he lied.

"Well…" she began shyly, "if you want, you could stay with me. Susumu will be living at school most of the time, and the rent isn't very much."

He smiled at her. "Really?"

She blushed, nodding.

"Sure, until I can get my own place... Then you could move in with me."

Tsukushi laughed. "Oh, come on, Tsukasa. You don't even have a job yet."

"I saved some money."

She laughed even harder. She was even gasping for breath. "That's too funny!"

"What? It's true! I've got enough for a year!"

"He embezzled!" Rui put in from behind them.

Tsukasa threw his magazine at him. "I did not embezzle! I worked for the Doumyouji Group for 2 years. I deserve a little of what I earned."

"How much did you save?" Tsukushi asked, wiping her eyes.

"Only about a million."

"Wow! That's great!" she said. "A million yen? That'll be a good start."

"Yen?" Tsukasa scoffed. "Who could live off a million yen for a year? I meant dollars."

Tsukushi sprayed orange juice in his face. "A million dollars?"

He gave her a withering look as he wiped at his face with a napkin. "That's what I said, isn't it?"

She shook him by the shoulders. "A million dollars? Are you kidding me? Wait, how much is that in yen?"

Rui came up over the backs of their seats and whispered in her ear, laughing.

"What?!" Tsukushi screeched. "No way!"

"We'll have to rough it for a while," Tsukasa said absently.

"Rough it? Like you know what that means…" Tsukushi muttered.

"But after a year, I should be well on my way to showing up the old hag."

"How're you gonna do that?" she asked.

"I'm going to start up my own company. Those mergers I made while I worked for the Doumyouji Group will fall apart once the CEOs find out I won't be inheriting the company. They'll come to me, because they trust me and never wanted to make a deal with my parents in the first place." He grinned. "I'll be rich again in no time!"

"Geez, you're still so arrogant! And you have a million dollars. You still seem pretty rich to me."

He poked her on the nose and laughed. "That's because you're a commoner."

Tsukushi gave a dramatic sigh. "And here I thought you changed…"

"Only a little at a time."

"So, what's in here?"

She was holding the velvet box.

"What the…?" Tsukasa exclaimed, patting his pockets. "How'd you get that? Are you a pocket picker?"

"It's 'pickpocket,' dummy. And a woman's secrets are her own." She shook the box. "It's for me, right? Can I open it?"

Tsukasa rolled his eyes, but smiled. A few years ago, she would have refused any gift from him. He liked the change. He'd spoil her rotten, if she let him. "Might as well. Go on."

Tsukushi opened the box. She gasped.

His heartbeat thumped loudly in his ears. "Do you like it?"

"It's beautiful…" she said in a hushed tone. She took the ring gently out of the box, as if holding something sacred, and held it up to the light. It glittered with impossible brightness.

"Marry me, Tsukushi," he whispered in her ear, slipping the ring onto her finger. "Marry me, and I swear I'll make you happy."

"I know you will," she whispered back. She looked up at him, her eyes filled with love and tears. "I'll do my best to make you happy too." She pulled him by the collar into a deep kiss, her hands reaching up to play in his hair. He wrapped his arms around her waist and sighed with contentment.

Tsukasa pulled away from her suddenly. "So, does this mean yes?"

Tsukushi laughed. "Yes, stupid! Of course it means yes!"

They kissed again – Rui, Soujirou, and Akira looking on and cheering – as they flew over the ocean toward the Land of the Rising Sun.

End

* * *

**A/N: **Thanks for reading! I really hope you enjoyed it. Since you're here, how about submitting a review? I love knowing what people think of my writing. Thank you!

(FYI - 1,000,000 yen is about $8955.)


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